Mauritius is one of the most popular island nations in the Indian Ocean. — Photos: SANDIP HOR
Stunning beaches, lush green sugarcane fields, plush resorts, and dodos – the big flightless bird are emblems of Mauritius, the Indian Ocean Island located around 2,200km away from the coast of East Africa.
During my recent visit there, I played in the sun, sea, and sand at a few of their beaches, went past endless stretches of sugarcane plantations, and enjoyed staying at some of the dreamy retreats, but I didn’t find any dodos other than on the coat of arms of Mauritius.
“The birds were all gone centuries ago, eaten by the hungry European sailors and rats,” said a local.
It’s true.
Until the arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch sailors in the 16th century, the island was uninhabited other than being home to these grey coloured birds, some weighing nearly 20kg. They were endemic to the island and were not to be found anywhere else on Earth. The hungry seafarers kept eating some of them, while others were attacked by the invasive monkeys, deer, pigs, and rats who came to the island with the humans.
The destruction of the native species was so intense that, in less than 100 years, they were completely wiped off the planet. This sad elimination was immortalised by the creation of the proverb “dead as a dodo”, commonly used to describe something that’s never going to come back.
The Le Morne Mountain is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
However, instead of a dodo, I managed to spot in the wild a rare pink pigeon. Also endemic to Mauritius, these avian species have a pinkish head and underparts, brown wings, and a rufous tail. At one time, they were also nearing extinction, but well-managed conservation efforts have started seeing an increase in their numbers. I was exceptionally lucky to see one while browsing through La Valles des Couleurs Nature Park.
At the same venue, I came close to some giant tortoises said to be over 100 years old. Watching them lazily bask in the sun, I wondered if I could live in good health for that long too. “Only if you can reduce your breathing rate from around 20 to three a minute,” told my omniscient guide while narrating the habits of these huge creatures.
Mauritius is circled by nearly 300km of white sandy beaches and blue lagoons, which are protected from the open sea by a cluster of coral reefs. These features make the island a haven for people who love to be spoiled by the sun, sea, and sand.
These coloured rocks are geological wonders of Mauritius.
However, to me, no less commanding were the island’s green patches, dominated by expansive national parks and woodlands. Back dropped by a series of rugged mountain peaks, they draw adventure seekers for hiking, swimming under the gushing waterfalls, or simply to capture the amazing beauty of the coloured rocks, a geological wonder that surfaced perhaps a million years ago as a result of volcanoes.
While most visitors come to Mauritius to relax and chill in a serene and tropical environment, I was keen to chase its history and culture and found the exhibits at some of the museums, like the Blue Penny Museum and the National History Museum in the capital, Port Louis, most useful to understand how this inhabited island in the 16th century, after 500 years, became a Rainbow nation of 1.3 million people with Indian, African, French, and British heritage.
The Dutch traders were the first to move in, followed by the French and the British colonisers. Sugar cultivation began during French rule in the 18th century. The labourers working in the plantations were mainly slaves forcibly secured from neighbouring African countries. The British, after gaining control of the island, banned slavery and fetched indentured labourers from their colony in India.
The information centre Unesco World Heritage Site-listed Aapravasi Ghat, formerly called Coolie Ghat, where nearly half a million labourers from India arrived, provided interesting information about the British coloniser’s great experiment to get paid labourers instead of slaves.
Many of the early settlers never went back to their country of origin. Today, their future generations all live together harmoniously as Mauritians, maintaining their long-lived cultural heritage. As the majority of the population is of Indian origin, Hindi is also widely spoken, and the supremacy of Indianism is clearly noticeable in day-to-day Mauritian life.
Hinduism is a major religion on the island.
I found Hindu temples and Islamic shrines in every village and township, heard radio jockeys playing the latest Bollywood hits, bumped into saree-wearing women quite regularly, tasted strong use of spices in almost every meal, and noticed Indian curry restaurants outnumbering eateries of any other cuisine.
The India feeling escalated when I joined a group of locals in Port Louis to eat their national dish, called the “Dhol Puri”, from a wayside stall. It’s like the Indian paratha, but lightly stuffed with lentils and served with spicy potato curry. When eating, I felt like I was in a second-tier Indian city like Patna or Kanpur.
Travel notes
Getting there: Air Mauritius flies direct from Kuala Lumpur to Mauritius.
Where to stay: Plush resorts are dotted throughout the island with Anantara Iko Mauritius, Heritage Le Telfair and Long Beach being the more popular ones from the long list.
More info: https://mauritiusnow.com
